To the man on the uptown train across the platform from where I waited to make my downtown connection. Thank you.
I watched as you found yourself suddenly standing in front of a newly vacated seat on your very crowded train. You had what looked to be an iPhone in your left hand and a black leather strap-- presumably connected to a bag-- hanging off of your right shoulder. Your framing through the subway car window gave the impression as though I was viewing a character on a television show with the volume on mute. Not a surprising connection if you entertain the idea that, in any given moment, anyone being observed is a character starring in his or her own drama, comedy, documentary, etc.
I read your lips as you singled out passengers standing around, "Do you want to sit down? Does anybody want to sit?" You asked about three times. Finally, when no one stepped forward, you turned around and claimed it for yourself. At that moment-- the exact moment when you sat down--you made me smile.
I don't know how long you had been standing for or how much longer your commute was going to be, but speaking on behalf of all people who have ever boarded a train or bus hoping for a seat, I thank you for the asking. It would have been perfectly understandable if you had just decided to take the seat as soon as it was vacant-- that being the normal practice particularly for a seat directly in front of you. And it's not a foregone conclusion that because you're a male you have to offer the seat to any women in the vicinity. At least not to me. I mean it makes my heart beam when I bear witness to this. But I also know men get tired too and that no matter how physically fit someone looks on the outside, it's possible he may be dealing with something else on the inside.
But the heart of my reason for smiling? The fact that you sat and, once you sat, the way that you settled into the seat, told me you were happy to sit. And after witnessing the bit that transpired before the sitting, and then to see/sense you being happy in the experience of sitting? Well, honestly, that made me happy too.